Attitudes on Foreign and Security Policy in the U.S. and Germany: A Comparison of Structures, Dynamics, and Determinants at the Mass and Elite Level

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Hans Rattinger; Professor Dr. Harald Schoen
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2009 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 121240618

The second phase of the project seeks to compare foreign and security policy orientations of the public and of political elites in the United States and Germany with a special focus on transatlantic and mass-elite relations. Functionally equivalent und simultaneously conducted elite and mass public surveys are employed to measure foreign and security orientations and general psychological dispositions such as national identities, stereotypes, personality traits and universal values. Both the role of national identity, stereotypes, and of perceptions of the other countries political positions for the attitude formation on foreign and security issues are analyzed (transatlantic relations). Furthermore, the influence of the perceived public opinion on elite political positions is examined, and the extent of the public using elite cues in opinion formation is explored (elite-mass relations). Special attention to the heterogeneity of both elites and the public is payed by additionally analyzing the extent to which individual differences such as political involvement, personality and values moderate the transatlantic and elite-mass relations. For the first time ever, mass-elite-linkages in the foreign and security policy field are thus analyzed. The debate on the alleged transatlantic alienation is added to by incorporating stereotypes for the first time in the attitude formation process on foreign and security policy issues. The project thus contributes to research on comparative political public opinion and foreign policy analysis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants